To Be a Hero
by musicnutftw
Summary: Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo are about to undergo the most strenuous mission of their freshman year of high school: looking after first-graders.


A/N: This was an assignment for class that I figured I may as well post here. It's my first MHA fic! Woo! I'm hoping getting into the characters heads here will help me if I decide to write other things later. Thanks for reading!

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Sitting next to Kacchan and Todoroki in front of a group of first graders was probably the hardest thing Deku had ever done. So many wide eyes were trained on the three of them, and Deku started to wonder if this was how pro heroes felt all the time with the world watching them. That thought made him swallow hard, balling his hands into fists. If pros could bear it, then so could he.

The young kids had filed into the classroom a few minutes ago, lead in by Yuu Hino, this class' teaching assistant. After their teacher, Ms. Toshiba, had finished passing out popsicle sticks to her class, she gave the UA students five of them as well, each shaped like a different pro hero.

"All right, everyone, I want to introduce some special guests," Ms. Toshiba said. "These are students from UA High school. You might even recognize them from the Sports Festival. They're here to help us today and maybe just learn a thing or two from you."

Introductions were met with varying degrees of excitement that made Deku even more nervous than when they'd arrived that morning. Professor Aizawa, Class 1-A's homeroom teacher, didn't waste a word he didn't have to, so when he'd assigned Deku and the others to this particular classroom for the day, he'd mentioned that the kids they would be looking after were coming into their quirks. Therefore it was important the freshmen get a chance to experience what that looked like from an older perspective. All of his friends had had these same moments as children. Now, knowing what they did about the hero world and what the kids would face one day, it was important to give the situation another look. For Deku, however, the experience was much fresher, having only received his quirk earlier that year. What could he possibly add to this experience when he'd only ever seen it from the outside? Being fifteen and going through it was very different than being five, six, seven and doing the same. Wasn't it?

After Deku, Todoroki, and Kacchan had introduced themselves, Ms. Toshiba clapped her hands together yet again, saying, "Now, who can tell me who your popsicle sticks are shaped after?"

Several kids raised their hands. Ms. Toshiba picked a boy with short dark hair and black horns. He stood from his seat, saying, "All-Might, Best Jeanist, Endeavor, Edgeshot, and Hawks."

"Very good, Ryu," Ms. Toshiba said. Ryu sat back down, looking proud of himself. He slapped a high five with another boy who was sitting beside him. This one had short black hair, and despite celebrating with his friend, he didn't look very happy. Deku wondered if something was bothering him, but he didn't have much time to think about it. Ms. Toshiba was explaining what the popsicle sticks were for.

"So, whenever you have a question, raise one of the popsicle sticks." Hino was writing on the board while Ms. Toshiba spoke. "All-Might is for questions about pro hero work, Endeavor is for those about quirks, Best Jeanist is for costume choices, Hawks is for the Sports Festival, and Edgeshot is for UA High School. I'll call on you, and when these guys have answers, they'll raise their popsicle sticks too, okay?"

The kids looked like they were about to jump out of their seats, they were so excited. Once Ms. Toshiba set them loose, the questions didn't stop.

"Why do you beat yourself up when you fight?" was the first question Deku had to answer, followed by "Which finger does the most damage?" and "Did you want to lose?" There were a lot of questions about the Sports Festival, and Deku was amazed at how many of these kids had watched. He remembered being excited when he was younger to get to see potential heroes test their skills on TV, but somehow, it had never really sunk in just how big an event this must have been for these kids as well. It made him wish he'd put in a better showing so he could have felt less like a fool here.

"Why did you let yourself get caught by the bad guys?"

Deku froze, his hands gripping his popsicle sticks tightly as Kacchan got to his feet, his chair falling over. "The hell did you just ask me, you little brat?" He took a step forward, and Deku had to restrain himself from getting out of his chair to stop him. _He knows better. He wouldn't hurt a kid, right?_

The kids didn't know that, however, as some of them had started crying. "All right," Ms. Toshiba said, clapping her hands together. "That wasn't a very nice question, Ryu. Bakugo wants to be a pro hero too, you know. One day, he might even save your life. If that happens, do you want to think back to this moment when you asked him such a mean question?"

"No," Ryu grumbled, wiping his nose.

"You're a good boy, Ryu," Ms. Toshiba said, pressing her hands together. When she pulled them apart, a tissue stretched between her palms, separating from her skin. She passed it to the boy, saying, "Bakugo is sorry he called you such a mean name too, aren't you?" She smiled at the high schooler in question, her expression warm on the surface, but her eyes serious as she narrowed them at him. It was a look Deku wouldn't want to face.

Kacchan sighed, grumbling, "I'm sorry I called you a brat."

"I'm sorry I asked you a mean question," Ryu said. "You were really cool at the Sports Festival, so I wanted to know more about you. I thought you were too tough to get caught is all."

"I am," Bakugo replied, putting his hands on his hips and leaning closer to the kid. "They didn't beat me in a fair fight. Next time, they won't beat me at all."

Ryu's face lit up at Kacchan's words, and Deku sighed in relief, happy his childhood friend hadn't made things worse. Kacchan had done some serious growing up since he'd started at UA, and while he was still as rough and prickly as ever, it seemed like he'd learned just a little bit of humility. A _very very _little.

The questions slowed down a bit after that, stretching from the mundane like how they styled their hair (Deku just woke up like that, Todoroki couldn't do anything with his, and Kacchan thought his looked kind of explosion-murdery) to the more conventional like who their favorite hero was (All-Might, All-Might, shut-up-Deku-All-Might). Just when Deku thought questions might be done with, a tentative hand went up from the boy sitting next to Ryu. He was holding an Endeavor popsicle stick, looking like he really didn't want to ask anything. However, Ryu was staring expectantly at him, not giving him much of a choice.

"Yes, Tohru?" Ms. Toshiba said.

The boy got to his feet, looking down at the ground as he asked, "Do any of you not like your quirk? W-was it hard to figure out how to use it to help people?"

What a loaded question. Deku raised his popsicle stick, saying, "I like my quirk more the more I use it. It was really hard at first because I couldn't control it, but now that I don't hurt myself anymore, it's okay."

Todoroki took Deku's popsicle stick from him, raising it in the air as he said, "I hated my fire quirk for a while. I thought it just hurt people, but having a nosy guy poke at me until I didn't have a choice about it anymore helped."

Deku winced at Todoroki's words, remembering how difficult it had been at the Sports Festival, facing off with Todoroki at only half his strength. Convincing his opponent to go all out on him might not have been the smartest idea on Deku's part, but it had been worth it to see what Todoroki could do. Even now, knowing that his classmate would keep getting stronger because of his nosiness, Deku still looked back at that wondering what had possessed him to act in that way. He just couldn't _not_ help people who were suffering.

Kacchan raised his own popsicle stick, saying, "I just like to blow stuff up. That's always useful."

Some of the kids laughed, while Ms. Toshiba and Hino wore various disapproving looks. Deku sighed. He knew Kacchan had struggled a lot with his own powers, trying to perfect them, to make them into something he could use to help people. It was just like him to blow off a serious question like that, though.

Tohru sat back down, but judging by the look on his face, he didn't seem satisfied with their responses. Deku wondered what it was he'd been expecting. Did the boy have a quirk he didn't like, one he was having trouble figuring out how to use to save others? He was only 6 years old. He had plenty of time to think that over. Deku knew people who'd had quirks all their lives and were still trying to figure out the best way to use them. How could he tell Tohru there was no rush? He needed more information about what was bothering the boy. Hopefully, he would get a chance later, maybe even during the quirk exhibition.

It was a relief when Ms. Toshiba escorted the kids outside for recess. He didn't know how she and Hino did it every day, dealing with 20 pairs of eyes on them, always asking questions and expecting them to have the answers. The job of a hero was pretty tough, but so was that of a teacher, he was realizing.

"Oh, Todoroki!" Deku said, turning to his friend. "You didn't answer a lot of quirk questions today."

Todoroki shrugged, saying, "I burned my father's popsicle stick."

Deku's jaw dropped for a second before he swallowed hard, saying, "Oh. Okay." It shouldn't have surprised Deku that Todoroki set his father's stick on fire, but he still couldn't quite believe it. Endeavor was a terrible person, and Deku could understand that Todoroki had complicated feelings about the man. Hopefully, taking some of those out on the wooden version of him would make his son feel a little better.

"Hey," Hino said, walking over to them with a sandwich in his hands. He took a bite before speaking around a mouthful of food. "You guys mind helping me with something?"

"No, not at all," Deku said without thinking.

"You don't speak for all of us, Deku," Kacchan growled.

"What was it you needed?" Todoroki asked.

"Hey, don't ignore me!"

"Follow me," Hino said, gesturing for the boys to do just that. Kacchan brought up the rear, seething at being ignored. Deku could practically feel the sparks flying behind him, but he kept his eyes resolutely forward for fear of another of Kacchan's outbursts. This wasn't the time or place to make him any angrier.

Hino took them around to the far side of the school, saying, "Yesterday, some older kids were messing around with their quirks, picking on the younger kids." Pointing at the top of the building, he said, "They got one of our student's shoes stuck on top of the building. I was just going to call the fire department, but if one of you has a quirk that can get them down, that'd be appreciated." Snapping his fingers, tiny sparks flew out. "I don't exactly have that kind of power."

"I can get them," Deku said, looking over at Todoroki and Kacchan. "Unless you want to."

"It's fine," Todoroki replied. "If I try to get up there, I'll make a mess." Todoroki's quirk, manipulating fire and ice, was definitely handy, but he had a point. If he used his ice to get up there, he would have to melt it all and then there would be water everywhere unless he evaporated it. It was simpler to let Deku handle this as long as Kacchan didn't mind.

"Whatever, you damn nerd," Kacchan said, still sore from earlier.

Deku sighed before he activated his quirk in just his legs, thinking this was probably a better job for someone like Uraraka with her gravity manipulating quirk than any of them before he jumped, reaching the top of the building in a single bound. It didn't take more than a second to find the shoes, and he jumped right back down, passing them off to Hino.

"Thanks," Hino replied around another mouthful of sandwich. "Saved me a call I really didn't feel like making. Let's head back inside and see what else needs to be done before recess is over."

The four of them worked to set up the next activity for class, and when everyone came back in, they went to lunch, giving the UA students a little more time to eat and relax before being thrown back into the fray. Hino was talking to the students during lunch, keeping an eye on everyone. It made sense now why he'd been eating earlier. He hardly could have looked after the students if he was trying to fill his own stomach. In a class full of kids still getting used to their powers, all hands needed to be on deck as often as possible.

After a few more class activities, it was finally time for the big event of the day. "All right, everyone," Ms. Toshiba said. "Are you guys ready to show off your quirks for the big kids?"

Unlike her question from this morning, this one was met with near unanimous cheers. Deku couldn't help but notice a few students who looked less-than-enthused, and he wondered if maybe their quirks hadn't manifested yet. There was a decent window of time around this point in their lives in which quirks could show up, so even if they didn't have one yet, it would happen soon. Being quirkless was pretty rare, after all….

"Okay, line up, everyone." The students did as they were asked, jostling each other amicably, chatting and jumping as though they hadn't just expended massive amounts of energy playing outside only minutes before. "All right, Ryu, you're first."

It turned out Ryu did in fact have a mutant quirk that gave him the horns on his head and bullish strength that he chose to use to ram into things with them. Some students had quirks to manipulate water or fire, air or electricity. These were dangerous, since the kids didn't quite know how to control them, so when one student accidentally set a desk on fire with the static from his arm hair, Yuu was ready with a bucket of water. Someone else shot water from their fingertips all over another student, and Mrs. Toshiba was ready with a change of clothes. Deku hadn't realized just how important it was to be prepared when it came to new quirk users.

There were plenty of mutant and transformation quirks that the students were eager to show off as well, aside from just Ryu's. One girl had snakes for hair while another had massive ears so she could hear through walls. There was a kid with webbed fingers and toes that he claimed were good for swimming and someone who could turn their hands into something they'd touched recently. One of the kids could close his eyes and turn out the lights when he wanted and another could secrete a sticky mucous from the space between their fingers.

Three of the students didn't have quirks yet, so they stood off to one side, watching with jealous expressions. Deku wished he knew what to tell them. Being quirkless was so rare that it was likely it wouldn't bother them. Still, Deku knew exactly how painful it was to watch everyone else get to show off when all you wanted was to do the same. _Don't worry, guys_, he thought. _You'll get there one day._

The very last student in line to show off his quirk was Tohru. Somehow, standing there with his shoulders hunched and his head hanging low, he looked even smaller than before. He was gritting his teeth, and his hands were balled into tiny fists at his sides.

"Tohru?" Ms. Toshiba said, a concerned expression on her face. "Don't you want to show us your quirk?"

He shook his head roughly, not saying a word.

Ms. Toshiba walked over to him, kneeling down so she and her student were eye-to-eye. "I'd like to see it. I bet it's really cool." More vehement headshaking.

"Come on, buddy," Yuu said, smiling easily. "You should want to show it off. Quirks are awesome. Even little ones like mine are useful."

Tohru scowled, his expression very dark as he pulled a piece of string from his pocket. "Ryu?" he said, looking at the other boy. "Can I use you?"

"Sure," Ryu said, walking over to stand by his classmate. Deku was impressed by the easy way in which Ryu smiled at the other boy, like he trusted him implicitly. There was a good chance he knew exactly what was going to happen, but he didn't seem at all worried.

If only some of Ryu's confidence could be transferred to Tohru who still looked miserable as he reached in his pocket, pulling out some string tied in a circle. Deku frowned, wondering what kind of quirk would use something like that. What could Tohru do that he didn't want to show anyone?

"Ryu," Tohru muttered, moving the string around his fingers until he made a shape. He tugged on a certain string, and Ryu's right arm suddenly lifted over his head. Another tug and the left arm did the same.

"Whoa!" Ryu said, his eyes wide. "How are you doing that?"

Tohru didn't answer, instead using his fingers and his string to make Ryu move various limbs. It was slow and jerky, reminding Deku of those really old string puppets he'd read about in a book once. After about a minute of this, Tohru pocketed his string, looking down at his feet in shame.

The room was dead silent until one of the first graders shouted, "Tohru's got a villain quirk!" Suddenly, the class erupted in whispers and jeers, much to Deku's dismay. Everyone except for Ryu was calling Tohru a villain.

_Holy crap, what do we do?_ Deku was trying hard not to panic, looking from his classmates who seemed as lost as he did to Yuu and Ms. Toshiba who shared anxious expressions but did nothing to stop the children. _Do they think he's got a villain quirk too?_ Deku remembered talking to Shinso at the Sports Festival, remembered the way he described his own childhood, how everyone thought he would make a great villain, but instead he fought to become a hero. _Is this what he went through his entire life? How did he come out of it okay? How can we stop this now?_

"That's a cool quirk."

Everyone in the classroom froze as Todoroki stepped forward, kneeling down to Tohru's level. Ryu stood at his friend's side, and Deku realized he'd had his hand on Tohru's shoulder the entire time. "Especially if the person you wanted to save wasn't cooperating," Todoroki added. "Sometimes, you have to direct people, right? But if you can just move them, it saves time."

"Oh!" Deku said, lowering his fist into his upturned palm. "You could stop villains like that too. If someone is being chased, you could just pull some strings, right? That's such a useful quirk."

Tohru looked up at the older students, eyes wide. He'd been crying silently until Todoroki had spoken, but now he swiped away his tears, swallowing hard. When Bakugo walked over, Deku tensed, wondering what his old friend was going to say. Kacchan wasn't good in these kinds of situations.

"Look, kid," Bakugo started, hands shoved in his pockets as he glared down at Tohru. "Quirks don't make you a good guy or a bad guy, your choices do. No one can choose what you do with your power but yourself. So, do you want to be a hero or a villain?"

"A hero!" Tohru cried without hesitation, balling his hands into fists.

"Then quit crying," Bakugo snapped. "Only losers spend all their time crying about how hard it is."

"R-right!" Tohru nodded his head, and Deku relaxed, impressed. That speech had all the makings of a Bakugo lecture, but somehow, things had turned out okay.

"You can practice on me!" Ryu told Tohru. "I'll help you."

"Thanks, Ryu," Tohru said, smiling for the first time since the exhibitions started. Slowly, all of his classmates made their way over to him, asking questions about his quirk, asking if he would show off more.

"Thank you," Ms. Toshiba said, softly, making the UA students turn to face her and Yuu who was at her side. "It's hard, not being a hero and having to address the issue of heroes and villains with children."

Yuu nodded, adding, "It's like, hard not to be afraid, you know? Of saying the wrong thing and hurting them even more."

"You children have been through so much," Ms. Toshiba said. "You're already wiser than Yuu and me in so many ways. I look forward to the kinds of heroes you're going to become. You give me hope for the future."

"Oh," Deku said, thoroughly embarrassed. "It was nothing, really."

"We just saved a kid," Todoroki said, shaking his head at Deku. "Being a hero isn't all about fighting. I think we forget that sometimes."

"Whatever," Bakugo grumbled. "All this heart-warming garbage makes me want to go explode something. Is class over yet?"

The concerned looks from Ms. Toshiba and Yuu at Bakugo's comment, combined with the sigh from Todoroki made Deku laugh. Watching Tohru show off his quirk in the center of so many other kids, Deku couldn't help but wonder what kind of heroes these first graders might become. At least he wouldn't have to worry so much about Tohru anymore. With a friend like Ryu at his side, he had a feeling those two would be just fine.


End file.
